In one form of conventional earth ripper, a ripper tip is mounted to a shank which is pivotally mounted to a tractor beam by a shank pivot pin. As a result of side loadings acting on the ripper during the ripping operation, the shank pivot pins have worn so that the pins, at times, were lost during the ripping operation, causing shutdown of the tractor and ripper for repair. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,044 by Cobb and Livesay an improved ripper-impact imparting mechanism and mounting therefor is shown wherein the reciprocatable ripper is pivotally supported with a portion of the force imparter so as to share a common connection. Such apparatus, while performing admirably, does not easily permit servicing of only one of the ripper or impacting mechanism components. Moreover, the load exerted by the ripper on the shank pivot pin cantilevers the load exerted on the clevis pin and thus subjects it to high loads.
A nonswiveling impactor-ripper assembly is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,603 in which the ripper shank and impact apparatus again share a support so as to make separate disassembly and service thereof difficult. U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,322 by Cobb et al illustrates a nonswiveling impactor-ripper apparatus having multiple pivot points for the ripper element.